Bedrock Guidelines For All

BrassKnuckles

The General Writers Forum is different from the other forums for expression here on GTAForums.com in that each word and sentence our patrons write is reflective of time spent at work--thinking of the correct words, forming sentences, delving into the personalities of characters, and welding together elaborate plots. This is not to say that the other forums don't host true work, but merely that a story is not a piece of art in the same way that a computer graphic is. Your work requires a different level of criticism and interest.

I realize I have become stagnant and unhelpful in the General Writers Forum. Thanks in part to my indolence, the GWF has gained an ill reputation as a place where nothing is taken critically and no work is really cared about. I want to make my best effort to correct this. But I need your help, too.

One of the obstacles in reaching out to the patrons of the GWF is a genuine dissatisfaction toward saying the same things over and over. After seeing the same mistakes, I have resorted to making short, unhelpful comments that few consider and even fewer utilize. Can we halt the practice? Of course. That's why I need you to read this before posting your work.

A Few Bedrock Guidelines--------------------------------

1. Quotes

This is my major qualm. A quote should include quoted material (obviously) and attribution (optionally). The standards of attribution are not hard to figure out. Let's take a look at the incorrect and correct forms of attribution.

QUOTE (INCORRECT ATTRIBUTION)

• "What a stinky piece of cheese." Said Fred.

• "What a stinky piece of cheese." said Fred.

• "What a stinky piece of cheese." Was the reply from Fred's table.

• "That's one stinky piece of cheese!" Exclaimed Fred.

• "Could you break me off a hunk of that stinky cheese?" Asked Fred.

These forms are incorrect. Incorrect.

QUOTE (CORRECT ATTRIBUTION)

• "What a stinky piece of cheese," said Fred.

• "What a stinky piece of cheese," was the reply from Fred's table.

• "That's one stinky piece of cheese!" exclaimed Fred.

• "Could you break me off a hunk of that stinky cheese?" asked Fred.

Attribution always begins with a lower-case letter.

2. Redundancies

I've grown tired of redundant (repetitive and useless) phrases appearing amidst the work in the GWF. For example:

QUOTE (Too many redundancies)

The hot sun burned us until 5 p.m., but then wet rain began to fall.

Of course the sun is hot. Of course rain is wet. Please, please , please try to fix this.

3. Seriously, guys. It's 'Colombian,' not 'Columbian.' And a single member of a Colombian Drug Cartel is not called a 'Cartel,' much like a member of a Chinese Drug Triad is not called a 'Triad.' Let's call a halt to this.

gta phil gta

Oh, erm, about that topic we were going to make with all the stuff in - tips from as many people as possible, rants about how to do stuff, a couple general rules etc. .... I've been meaning to get around to it, honest.

Soon enough we can merge it altogether into one, I guess. When we start sorting out the pins we can either merge this with Wing's or create a new one .. or something.

bored

the bit about repetition, you've gotta realize that some people put that in there (hot sun, etc.) either to help the flow of the sentence or just set up the feel of the scene. plus when someone says 'hot sun', it is in relation to it being hot out when sunny. it can be sunny, but not hot. as for 'wet rain', i don't know many who write that.

BrassKnuckles

the bit about repetition, you've gotta realize that some people put that in there (hot sun, etc.) either to help the flow of the sentence or just set up the feel of the scene. plus when someone says 'hot sun', it is in relation to it being hot out when sunny. it can be sunny, but not hot. as for 'wet rain', i don't know many who write that.

just my two cents.

Perhaps you misunderstood. Saying a day is sunny and hot is perfectly fine. Saying that the 'hot sun' did something is akin to the 'wet rain' bit and should be avoid, as it's clearer to simply say 'the sun burned down...' rather than 'the hot sun burned down...'

meta187

Phil, Brass and Wingman have all seemed to put in work here and actually care for a forum that has, frankly, seen better activity in the past. I respect that and I'll try to make a vested interest in contributing more and reading and replying actively here in the future guys as other projects are cooling off and I can give it some attention now.